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Keeping your window blinds clean will make them last a lot longer.
While it isn’t a fun chore, window blinds and shades are not cheap to replace, so keeping them clean can save you money too.
If you have Venetian blinds, mini blinds, or cellular shades in your home, read these quick cleaning tips to learn how best to clean and care for your window covering investment!
Tips for Cleaning Venetian, Wood Window Blinds and Vertical Blinds:
- Wood window blinds may be vacuumed with a brush attachment to keep them clean and lint and dust free.
- Use of the brush attachment should remove all dirt except that which has been embedded in the fabric. This type soil may be removed using a cloth which has been wet with a mild soapy solution.
- More serious soil can be removed from a painted blind using a damp cloth with warm water and laundry detergent, such as tide or Era.
- These are mild enough to leave the paint intact but to remove the soil. Do not ever use an abrasive cleaner on your painted wood blinds. Severely stained blinds must be treated with lemon oil or a wood restorative.
- Never use a petroleum base soap to remove soil from your wooden blinds, whether or not they have been painted this may damage the water proof finish that coats them.
Cellular shades are easy to keep looking fresh and excellent for years to come.
Follow These Tips When Cleaning your Cellular Window Shades:
- Cellular Shades will require frequent cleaning with a feather duster or a charged vacuum duster, and lightly vacuumed with a vacuum cleaner attachment.
- If they become soiled with surface dirt, they can be spot cleaning using a mild soap and warm water.
- Extra care should be used with cellular blinds so as not to crease the fabric permanently.
- Ultrasonic cleaners are not recommended in use for these particular blinds.
- Under no circumstances use a very strong detergent, bleach or spot removers as they may remove the dye and leave lighter spots on the cellular blinds.
Comments
12 comments
Kendra
November 30, 2008
Enter Your Comment I just washed both my Hunter Douglas and my Levolor cellular blinds in the bath tub using HE laundery detergent ( the kind you use in a frong load washer) and Oxi-clean. I agitated them gently to get the water within the cells and pulled them out of the water to allow the dirty water to drain out ( a couple of times). I also took a white wash cloth and gently rubbed the blinds. I rinsed them well and re-hung them to dry (open). Then I closed them to reinforce the orginal creases. Them came out beautifully clean. (And they were pretty dirty since we have a woodburing stove in the room where they are hung.)
December 22, 2008
MADS were your shades very large. I have vertical cellular shades that are approximately 6 or 7 feet tall and I can not find a place locally that will clean them. judi@mei.net
January 3, 2009
I have shades that were in a bathroom and have mold I have tried a mold cleaner with no luck any suggestions
February 6, 2009
GET RID OF THEM. MOLD STAINS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO GET OUT. TREAT YOURSELF TO SOME NEW.
March 10, 2009
Did you remove them from the hardware or clean them assembled
March 11, 2009
We have cellular shades in bathroom and have a dust/dirt build up that does not come off with vacum or light water. looks like heavy dust build-up? They are only four years old. Looking for ideas!!
March 25, 2009
I got this off of a blinds site:
Fabric Pleated Shades
Most of the cellular shades, like the Hunter Douglas Duette shade, are anti-static, and they require very little cleaning. A light sweep with your vacuum cleaner brush attachment is all that is needed to keep them dust free. For a more thorough cleaning, the entire shade assembly may be gently wiped with a soft damp cloth using lukewarm (not hot) water. Take special care when handling opaque (blackout) shades to avoid creasing, and do not immerse them in water. For tough stains, spot clean with a mild detergent. Some shades, like the Graber Crystal Pleat have a “soft hand” fabric. Be very careful when trying to clean these types of shades as they tend to “pill”.
I assume that high humidity is not very good for these blinds. You may need to do what Mads did.
Honeycomb cellular shades are both durable and functional. To keep your honeycomb cellular shades looking like new, we at http://www.blindsanddrapery.com recommend regular dusting with a feather duster. You can also use the brush attachment of your vacuum or even blow off dust with a can of compressed air. If you need to deal with stains, blot with a damp sponge and a very mild soap. If this does not take out the stain, you can remove the honeycomb cellular from its mounting bracket and soak it in warm, mild soapy water. Be very careful! Make sure to test the soap on a discreet corner first and rinse thoroughly. When you are ready to put your honeycomb cellular shade back in the window, make sure to raise the shade tightly to re-crease the pleats.
March 25, 2009
Ultrasonic Cleaning
For a comprehensive cleaning of Cellular Shades, you can use a professional ultrasonic cleaning. However, the shade should be handled with a mild cleansing solution and should be washed carefully. In addition, makes sure that the fabric is in a stacked or closed position when it is being removed from the tank so that water can’t get trapped in the honeycombs.
April 18, 2009
Enter Your Comment Thanks Mads – I took your advice and washed in the bath tub with Tide w/bleach and they came out beautiful. I let them soak for about ten minutes and squeezed the water out with them closed and rinsed in the same closed position. Hung to dry and now my shades look like brand new.
July 15, 2009
To wash my window blinds, I soak them in oxyclean. It’s amazing how clean they get! I use 1 to 1 1/2 scoops of oxyclean and 1/2 cup of laundry detergent, a long plastic storage container with hot or warm water and soak them for about 1/2 hour or so. Usually I pre-mix the oxyclean in a tall plastic cup to get it activated it in hot water and in 10 min or so it looks like a bluish slushy but then it’s good to go! I soak everything including the wand part and the little sliders for the ends.
August 22, 2009
I just bought a home with pleated blinds on the windows. I love them, but noticed that when they are raised, the pleats of the larger blinds do not readily fold. Can I spray them with something that will make them retain their shape better?
September 30, 2009
WASH YOUR BLIND WITH A HOUSE AND MILD DETERGENT ON A SLOPING DRIVE WAY AND LET IT DRAIN THERE FOR SOME TIME AND HANG IT UP.